Smartwatches don’t appear to be going away anytime soon, and they may even return to haunt our wrists. Interest in the category is obviously on the rise again, with firms like Google, Samsung, Apple, and Qualcomm all releasing new products (or at least software and hardware updates).
Huawei has entered the battle with the Watch GT, a familiar-looking wristwatch that runs on a proprietary operating system rather than Wear OS for some apparent reason. The Watch GT’s 30-day battery life is highlighted by the business, along with the device’s sports-tracking functions.
Generic Appearance
I was intrigued by Huawei’s latest try, given how much we enjoyed its past watches. However, based on my experience with an early model, I’m not certain that the new wristwatch will stand out in this year’s competitive wearables market.
For starters, the huawei smart watch gt has a somewhat generic appearance. It has an excellent stainless steel case and ceramic bezel, however the colour options (black face with black strap or silver face with brown leather band) are both disappointing. Huawei claimed to have employed a classic design in this case, and the style is unmistakably recognisable.
This watch resembles the previous Huawei Watch and the Gear S3 Frontier, with the exception that it has two crowns instead of the two rectangular buttons on Samsung’s gadget. Just keep in mind that at 10.6mm thick, this is more suited to larger wrists.
Heart Rate Sensor
The heart-rate sensor is hidden beneath the watch’s casing, which Huawei claims was kept to a minimum. But, given that’s something that rarely sees the light of day, I was more interested in the device’s bright 1.39-inch AMOLED display, which was responsive as I swiped through apps and faces on the device’s own Lite OS.
Huawei’s own platform, which debuted in 2015 as an IoT play, resembles a mix of Samsung’s Tizen and Google’s Wear OS. Swiping left and right scrolls among widgets, while hitting the top and bottom buttons, respectively, launches training sessions and all apps. Because it can distinguish between indoor and outdoor activities using the GPS signal, the Watch GT has a lot more sports modes than the competition.
For example, if you’re running on a treadmill in your gym rather than in your neighbourhood park, the watch will recognise the difference and only plot your route for the latter. It also has a novice training mode and is intended to be intelligent enough to recognise things like your favourite swimming technique and use that as the basis for tracking your laps. We couldn’t put any of this to the test because we couldn’t take the preview units for a run or swim.
Slew of Sensors
The Watch GT, like most other modern smartwatches, comes with a slew of sensors that let it better track your activities. In addition to the six-LED optic heart-rate sensor, it incorporates a tri-GPS system (GPS+Glonass+Galileo/Beidou) and an altimeter to better measure your position, elevation, and pulse.
Huawei claims that because it uses the Chinese Beidou satellite to track your location, it can do it more accurately even in densely populated areas with buildings that could interfere with GPS signals. The Apple Watch Series 4 has a tri-GPS system (GPS/Glonass/Galileo), but the Galaxy Watch simply supports GPS and Glonass.If you’re a city runner looking for the most up-to-date information on your route, this could be a major selling factor.
Huawei’s heart-rate monitor could give it an advantage over the competition. The Watch GT employs artificial intelligence to figure out where and how it’s sitting on your wrist, and then uses that information to clean up data from the sensor. This is meant to assist in provides a more accurate readout, but we haven’t had the opportunity to test that yet. However, I must remark that it measured my pulse quite quickly.
Ending Note
Like any fitness-focused smartwatch worth its salt this year, the Watch GT can track your sleep and not just tell you how long you were up, but also how well you slept. I managed not to fall asleep while we were hands-on despite my tiredness and lack of coffee, but I was unable to test this function as well.
